Parental attendance and site selection of Centrolene savagei (Ruiz and Lynch 1991) in the western and central Andes of Colombia

Maria Lucia Prado Sañudo, Alan Giraldo, Wilmar Bolivar Garcia

Abstract

Centrolene savagei (Centrolenidae) is part of the group of glassfrogs and is an endemic species to Colombia. It is characterized by a small size, a green dorsum with dark green and white dots, lack of humeral spine and rounded snout. The males of this particular species perform parental care of the clutches by sitting on them. In order to describe parental attendance strategies exhibited by males of this species, we monitored eight localities in the Western and Central Andes of Colombia, where the species has been reported. For each individual and clutch identified we recorded height, distance to the edge, nearest edge, and leaf area. We also recorded number of eggs, canopy cover, and presence or absence of parental care of each clutch. We established that male attendance is less common during daylight hours, and it is not related with climatic or local environment conditions, but may be associated with other factors such as the presence of potential predators. Centrolene savagei presents a significant preference for laying its clutches on sites with heights between 0.1-2.0 m above water level; however, the number of eggs is not related with factors such as height, leaf area, distance to the edge or nearest edge.